


Teaming

by dontrollthedice



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gaming Club, M/M, unwilling wingman!techno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24436597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontrollthedice/pseuds/dontrollthedice
Summary: In which everyone knows about the motive behind Skeppy's troll monopoly on Bad, Bad's way-too-obvious developing crush on Skeppy, and Techno's desire to have one day without one of the two dragging him into their mess of a relationship.
Relationships: Background Friendships - Relationship, Skeppy | Zak Ahmed/BadBoyHalo | Darryl Noveschosch, Technoblade | Dave & Skeppy | Zak Ahmed, Zak Carder/Darryl Noveschosch
Comments: 207
Kudos: 2071





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this fic uses some super smash bros ultimate terminology. its not necessary to know but i thought i would provide it either way. heres the list:  
> recovery - usually a move that's used to take the character back onstage once knocked off  
> labbing - practicing a combo/character/anything alone, usually using the practice tool  
> stocks - lives  
> edge-guarding - attacking an offstage opponent in an effort to keep them off the stage

"Dude, I'm telling you, it's gonna be a four thousand IQ prank. You've gotta help me."

"Skeppy, you share a single brain cell with A6d. And he has it most of the time."

Skeppy frowned and swiped Techno's pen off their shared lab table. Techno raised an eyebrow, wondering what exactly his plan had been when both of them knew half the contents of his bag were pens and pencils he had nabbed from the floor over the years.

Being Skeppy's lab partner in their chemistry class wasn't an ideal situation for anyone. It was like having an annoying little brother following him around school, except that little brother wrecked both of their chemistry grades and wouldn't stop flicking eraser bits at him in class.

And now he had a plan to troll the Munchy Club's president.

Not like Techno particularly cared. His name was officially on the roster for the Munchy Club, but he skipped most of the meetings, showed up occasionally to bully his friends in Smash in front of the entire club (Really, the club should’ve been called the Smash Club from that being the only game they played, but god knew what high schoolers would do with that name), then disappeared back into the proverbial mist. Still, that didn’t mean he wanted to get involved with… whatever _this_ was.

"Can't you annoy Zelk with this or something?" Techno said, pulling another pencil out of his bag. He grimaced at the teeth marks etched into the rubber stopper and drew another pencil out. "I'm trying to carry us to victory here."

"I already did." Skeppy tapped on a messaging app on his phone screen and slid it into Techno's field of vision. One glance at it showed Skeppy's incessant spam being met with a single "No."

Techno snickered and pushed his phone back. "There go your whole two friends, Skeppy. Whatever shall you do now?"

"Hey, I still have A6d."

"Well, there you go. Can I do my work now?"

"Fine. Nerd." Skeppy rolled his eyes and tapped away at his phone.

And a few minutes later when Skeppy grabbed his shoulder and shook him, yelling about A6d agreeing to help him plan everything, Techno regretted every decision in his life that brought him to that moment in time.

* * *

"Are we finally going to the new place today or are you gonna flake on me again?" Tommy said, frowning as he tapped his foot. "I know you're taking as much time as possible putting away your things, too."

After the rush of students that left the school grounds right when the bell rang, the school became quiet, peaceful. The few lingering students kept their voices down in fear of their words being carried down the echoey halls. Still, Techno was not such a student.

Techno rolled his eyes and slammed his locker shut. "Oh no, you caught me. And no, I have to stay behind at school today."

"You're no fun."

"Too bad, freshie, I have the power here—"

The two collectively winced at the explosion of thuds and screams from the room next to them. There was a distinct lack of curse words and a distinct overuse of the word "muffin" and "oh my goodness." And all of that was accompanied with a very, _very_ familiar shriek…

The two stood in the halls, frozen and listening.

“Hey,” Techno said, “on second thought, let’s go to the new place. Sound good?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

* * *

A new addition to the rules of the club wasn't uncommon, but the timing was too perfect to be a coincidence.

"Is there a reason Bad added 'Officer applications are to be taken seriously, not as an opportunity for trolling' to the rules?" Techno asked, looking up from the email on his phone.

Skeppy gave him an innocent smile.

Crackhead hours for Skeppy tended to be either early in the morning or late at night during exam season. Their chemistry class was scheduled nowhere near crackhead hours. There was no reason he should be smiling like that. Something was wrong here.

"Don't even give me that, Skeppy, I know you did something."

"Okay, so I may or may not have applied as officer for the Smash Club."

"How’re you gonna take on more responsibility when you keep falling asleep in this class?”

Skeppy flicked another eraser bit at him. His aim was getting better. "Oh, shut up. Anyway, I applied as officer, and you know how there’s a bunch of hypothetical questions about how to deal with hackers in the interview?”

"Yeah."

"And you know what ping-spoofing is, right?"

Techno paused.

Skeppy's form of trolling (which was what happened without a doubt given who he was as a person), while never creative or impressive in Techno's eyes, _was_ effective. Especially on the unsuspecting who tried to believe the best in people. Who their club president just happened to be— 

"He hates you now, doesn't he?" Techno said, smiling.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he kicked me out of the club."

"What did you need A6d for anyway?"

Skeppy shrugged. "I had a vague idea of what I was gonna do, I just needed someone to flesh it out with. It was pretty worth it in the end, he got _so_ mad at me."

"Yeah, I heard. And by heard, I mean I could literally hear you screaming from the hallways." Techno paused. "He didn't hit you, did he?"

Immediately, Skeppy's face scrunched and his nose wrinkled. "Dude, have you had a single conversation with him? He wouldn't hurt a fly."

"That's because a fly is an innocent creature. You, on the other hand…"

"Am an innocent creature. What's your point?"

Techno raised an eyebrow.

"But nah, he slammed his hands on the desk a lot and did the strangly thing—" Skeppy positioned his hands as if he were throttling something— "I don't think he even thought about hitting me, though." Then his lips stretched into a grin Techno knew meant trouble.

"If you say something ridiculous like me actually caring about you as a friend, I'm gonna stop helping you in this class. It's your choice."

The grin slid off his face. "... Noted."

* * *

There were only three situations where Skeppy would run into their classroom and blurt out the stupidest thing Techno had heard that day for the world to hear: he somehow got an exceeding grade on an assignment by himself, he got caught trolling one of his friends by said friend and needed a place to hide, or he had stayed up late the previous night and chose Techno as his unfortunate victim of caffeinated rambling.

"Techno!" Skeppy shouted. "He's giving me a second chance!"

"... What?"

"Bad. He stopped me in the halls just now and said if I wanted to take it seriously, he'd let me have a second interview with him." Skeppy set his hands on Techno's shoulders and shook him back and forth. "Techno! Oh my god, what do I do?"

Techno shrugged his hands off. "Letting go of me seems like a good first move. But is he actually letting you have a second interview or is he just trolling you back?"

"I think it's real."

"Wow."

"I know! He's too nice!" Skeppy pulled out his chair and sunk into his seat, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know what I'm gonna do."

"I mean, do you want the position?"

"I don't know, I didn't think this far ahead."

"Do you ever think at all?"

"Not the time, Techno."

Techno shrugged and sat down next to him. "Just slow down and think about it. The next meeting can't be that soon."

"It's today."

"Well, I'll be damned. You're screwed."

Skeppy bit his lip, his hold on his hair growing tighter. The desperation in his eyes was a familiar sight. Techno could almost hear what he was going to say next—

"You're coming with me."

That was not what Techno almost heard.

"Why would I go with you to your interview?" Techno said. "And isn't Bad super careful about privacy during those?"

Skeppy rolled his eyes. "You're not gonna be with me during my interview, idiot. You're just coming to today's meeting."

"Why?"

"For moral support."

"You want _me_ there for moral support? Do you know who you’re talking to?"

“Yeah, I do.”

God, this was ridiculous. In what world did Skeppy think he could drag Techno anywhere he didn’t want to go? Did he drink copious amounts of caffeine again trying to study for this chemistry test?

But… the opportunity to bully his friend right before his interview was tempting.

Techno shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “Alright, I’ll go with you. I’ll choose the most embarrassing character for you to get beaten with when we fight. For the time being, can you get a formula sheet for me?”

Skeppy furrowed his eyebrows. “Why would we need that?”

“Dude. We have a test today.”

Skeppy paused, glanced at the whiteboard in front of them, and slammed his head on the desk.

* * *

“What the hell? How’re you beating me with Piranha Plant?”

Techno smiled at the shrieks of his friend next to him right as a spikeball interrupted Skeppy’s recovery. “If you wish to defeat me, you must train for another two hundred years. We’ve been over this.”

Skeppy set his controller down and sighed. “All those times I said I hate this game, I don’t think I meant it. I think I just hate you.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

Thankfully, even though it was near the club’s end time, they weren’t the only ones in the room. Sapnap and George were the most obnoxiously loud, screaming insult after insult at each other while Bad stood over them, trying to yell over them to watch their language. Finn sat in the back of the class with a couple other club members Techno didn’t recognize. Judging by the frustration on their faces, Techno would guess they were labbing a new move (or they were frustrated by level one CPU battles. He didn’t know their lives, nor would he judge).

The clock hit the end of the meeting. One by one, everyone filtered out of the room. A low buzz fell over the room, half chatter and the other half the squeaking of chairs against the floor.

Oh. He should probably leave, too.

Techno stood up with his backpack and Switch in tow. Only four more people remained: Skeppy, Bad, then two people he guessed were other officers. And Skeppy… looked unprepared, to say the least.

Techno put a hand on Skeppy’s head, flattening out the puffs he knew Skeppy painstakingly combed every morning. He smirked when he was given a glare and a middle finger. “See you. Don’t forget we have part two of that test tomorrow.”

“We have _what?”_

Techno rushed out of the room before Skeppy could yell after him. Once he was sure he was a good distance away from the clubroom, he slowed to a walk and laughed.

* * *

“I hate you.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I _really_ hate you.”

“Wow, okay. And I thought I was being a good friend by reminding you about our test today.”

“We don’t have a test today! Ugh, why’d you say that?”

The two were careful to keep their voices low. Only a few people had made it to their chemistry classroom by the time Skeppy had run in and started pointedly ignoring Techno as if Techno cared. Eventually, Skeppy ditched the silent treatment and started talking, and now they were in this stupid situation.

Techno shrugged. “Just to keep you on your toes before the interview.”

“It didn’t work at all,” Skeppy said, raising his voice. “Instead, you know what happened? Bad heard what you said and started momming me about my grades. They’re not even that bad!”

“Only because you cheat off me and A6d.”

“He doesn’t know that. I don’t even know why Callahan and Cyber were there. It was only Bad asking me questions, and all of them were stupid. It was so hard taking it seriously.”

“You didn’t bring up ping-spoofing again, did you?”

Skeppy stayed silent.

“Skeppy. Come on.”

“It was only one time, okay? It was near the end of the interview, too. I took the rest of it seriously.”

“Sure. You totally took the rest of it seriously.” Techno rolled his eyes, then pulled out his phone, scrolling through his inbox. “Honestly, I don’t know how you’re still in the club after pissing Bad off this much.”

 _Subject: New Officer Announcement!  
_ _Please welcome Skeppy as our new social outreach chair!_

Techno didn’t bother reading the rest of the email. He slammed his phone face down on the table and sighed. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

Skeppy grinned. “Get trolled, idiot. He told me I was accepted after the interview ended.”

“Why would he want you as an officer? You got three-stocked by me when I was playing Piranha Plant.”

“Rude. I’m amazing.”

“Whatever you say.”

The two ended their conversation when the bell rang and strapped themselves in for a long class.

* * *

“There’s a tournament next month,” Skeppy said in the middle of ignoring the worksheet in front of him. “Are you coming?”

Techno raised an eyebrow. “Skeppy’s actually doing his duties as officer? What a surprise.”

“Shut up and answer the question.”

“Sure. I don’t see why not.”

“And the mandatory practice the day before?”

“I mean, it’s mandatory.”

“That word means nothing to you, but I'll take your word for it,” Skeppy said, typing something into his phone. “I'm signing you up for the tournament and if you bail, I'm throwing you out this window."

"I'd like to see you try."

Skeppy only shook his head, and Techno chalked that up as another victory for him.

* * *

Fuck, Techno actually had to attend that practice. And Skeppy was paired with Bad for the duo matches in the tournament for god knows what reason. God had left the chat a long time ago.

“Oh my god,” Skeppy said, his voice loud enough for Techno to hear from across the room over a sea of people. “Why’re you so bad at this game?”

 _“I’m_ the bad player here? You’re the one with no stocks already,” Bad said. His eyes were still trained on the screen, though they occasionally flittered back to Skeppy to shoot him a glare.

Dream and George, who both still had two stocks, exchanged a confused glance before returning to the game.

Techno rolled his eyes and kept watching. His teammate had left temporarily anyway.

Honestly, Skeppy and Bad didn't make an awful team. Skeppy maining an in-your-face character (and not being too bad with it, though Techno would never admit that) paired with Bad's gimmicky play style covered both of their weaknesses well. Skeppy’s tendency towards tunnel-vision and Bad’s constant commentating on where the opponents definitely helped make them a team that could stomp newbies with ease. 

That was, if either of the two could actually tolerate the other.

"That's it, I'm taking a stock," Skeppy said, picking up his controller again.

Bad gasped. "Wait, Skeppy, no—"

As soon as Skeppy took the stock, Dream interrupted Bad's recovery, sending him out of the map and out of the game.

"Were you watching the screen at all?" Bad muttered.

The match was over seconds after that. Dream and George already made a formidable duo against a respectable team. Skeppy by himself did not fit the definition of a respectable team.

"Good match, guys," Bad said, though it was clear his words were only aimed at Dream and George. "Dream, you were taking a lot of risks edge-guarding. I took out your first stock with me because of that when you could've just let my recovery fail. Be more careful with that, okay?"

As Bad continued giving advice, Techno watched Skeppy's expression morph from annoyance to… admiration?

Weird.

"Hey, I'm back," Finn said, pulling out the chair next to Techno. "Did I miss anything?"

"No," Techno said. He picked up his controller and erased the earlier scene from his mind. "Not really."

* * *

"I can't believe you guys got second place," Techno said when Skeppy walked into class the next Monday with a muffin in hand.

Skeppy laughed. "How does it feel placing lower than me, Techno? How's it feel?"

"I don't get it. Don't you guys hate each other or something?"

With that, the grin on Skeppy's face faded into a confused smile. "Yeah, I thought that, too, but apparently not. He just came up to me randomly at lunch and gave me a congratulatory muffin." He unwrapped the edge of the muffin wrapper and bit into it.

"I mean," Techno said, left with nothing else to comment on. "Is it good?"

“He told me it was gluten-free. It’s pretty good, actually.” Skeppy took another bite of the muffin. “Bet you wish your partner gave you a congratulatory muffin.”

“Shut up.”


	2. Chapter 2

There were only three people Skeppy pissed off on a regular basis who Techno knew could make him rush into a room and demand to hide somewhere: Mega, A6d, and Techno himself. Considering he was running straight at Techno, he could confidently cross himself off the list of potential suspects.

"Quick, hide me," Skeppy spat out before curling himself into the space underneath their lab station. A bit of his hair stuck out and he had left his backpack wide open for everyone to see, but it wasn’t Techno’s responsibility to shield him from the consequences of his actions.

Then an all too familiar figure came storming into their classroom and headed straight for Techno.

Oh, god, he wasn't prepared for this—

"Hey, Bad," Techno said, his voice more even than he thought it would be. "Why're you here?"

All the anger in Bad's body dissipated in a split second. His shoulders relaxed, and he gave Techno a bright smile. "Oh, Techno. I didn't know you were in this class. Have you seen Skeppy come in?"

Techno sighed. Of course. Time to record the four hundred forty-sixth incident Skeppy had been involved with this year. "What did he do now?"

"I'd rather not explain. Have you seen him?"

Oh. Techno could benefit from this.

This was good. This was so good. He had so much _power_ in his possession.

"No, I haven't," Techno said, biting back a grin as he eyed the backpack Skeppy had hastily dropped next to his seat. What a loser. "I'll let you know when he's here, if you want me to."

"That won't be necessary. Thanks anyway! See you at the meeting." With that, Bad turned and left the classroom.

Techno waited until he was certain he was out of earshot before finally glancing over at Skeppy. "The dude's a walking collection of shit you say in a formal email. You're seriously scared of that?"

Skeppy emerged from the space underneath their lab station with a giant grin stretched across his face. "Oh my god, I can't believe he actually bought that."

"You owe me both a favor and an explanation."

"I put a bottle of hair growth cream in his locker."

Techno blinked.

That raised too many questions. Firstly, why hair growth cream? When did he even get a chance to buy that? But most importantly, when was Skeppy ever one to half-ass a prank like that? If it had been anyone else, that bottle would've exploded inside that locker. And how'd he even get the combination to Bad's locker to begin with?

Techno packaged those questions for another day and instead asked, "Why?"

Skeppy shrugged. "It's fun annoying him."

That raised a bunch more questions Techno couldn't find in himself to care about. He had a deal to make.

"So, I defended you pretty well back there," Techno said with a smirk

Skeppy's smile slowly faded, the realization of his error finally settling in. "This was a mistake."

"You're eating an entire order of hot wings today. We invite Zelk and Mega, and we get to record your suffering. I'll pay half of the order. You know, purely out of the goodness of my heart."

“I hate you. This is literally the most excited I’ve ever seen you. Don’t you care about your friend at all?”

“Blood for the blood god, Skeppy. Blood for the blood god.”

* * *

"Hey, Techno," Hanna said, her eyebrows furrowed in concern. It wasn't even seven in the morning yet; what did she have to be concerned about? "Have you seen Skeppy yet?"

Techno shook his head and waited to hear the news.

"Okay, because, uh… I'm pretty sure I saw him jump on the back of the Munchy Club's president when he came to school. And then they both started screaming at each other. Should I be concerned?"

Strange. But concerning? Especially compared to what Techno had already heard and witnessed before?

"Nah," Techno said.

"Well, okay."

* * *

There was not a single time in Techno's life where he thought Skeppy would ever show up to school before him. Nor did he think Skeppy would ever learn how to operate a screwdriver, but apparently he was breaking all sorts of records today.

Techno raised an eyebrow upon seeing Skeppy fiddling with a locker hinge. "Uh… what's up?"

Skeppy jumped and whipped his head around, placing a hand on his chest and letting out a sigh of relief when he recognized him. He set his gaze back on the locker. "Ugh, you always come at the worst times. Go away."

"Whose locker are you messing with? Bad's?"

"I told you to go away."

"You know that he has a lot of connections to the school staff, right? If he reports you, they'll probably believe him over you."

"It's not like I'm doing anything bad." Skeppy paused to look down at the hand wrapped around a screwdriver, presumably realizing that the scene did, in fact, look bad. "Okay, listen, I'm not a complete asshole all the time like you. Trust me."

"When have you ever given me a reason to trust you?" Right as Techno finished his sentence, the face of the locker swung open, the side with the lock still affixed.

“Whatever. Just hand me my bag, will you? You’re blocking it.”

Techno rolled his eyes and reached behind him to grab the blue backpack he had seen and ignored. Then a very, _very_ familiar scent wafted from inside the bag, prompting him to zip it open. He frowned at the contents inside. “Skeppy. Can you explain why you have a hundred plastic bags with thin-crust pizza slices in them?”

Skeppy shrugged. “It’s not a hundred. I don’t remember the exact number, but it was, like, seventy. And pizza boxes wouldn’t fit in the locker, so I had to—”

“Wait, seventy? You’re gonna fit seventy pizza slices in that locker? I know I had to carry your ass in geometry, but—"

“No. Which is why I’m gonna do this.” Skeppy reached into the locker and pulled out textbooks that looked like they hadn’t been used in years, bending down to place them on the floor. He dusted his hands before taking the backpack from him. “Talked to George the other day, figured out they have their first class together. So, I’m just gonna hand off the textbooks to him.”

“Uh, which George?”

“The British one.”

“They’re both British, idiot.”

“The one who has Bad’s first class with him,” Skeppy huffed. He took a bag of thin-crust pizza and placed it in the locker. “I hate you. Why do you have to make everything so complicated?”

“One of us has to have actual brain cells here,” Techno said. “What if Bad asks him who emptied his locker? I think George’s alliance lies more with Bad than you. Both of them, actually.”

“Trust me, it won’t matter. Bad’s gonna know who did it either way.”

Well, that was ominous.

Techno would ask how, but by now, he had learned to just not ask questions. “I'm just gonna leave now. Don't count on me saving you this time."

Skeppy only flipped his middle finger up at him before Techno walked away.

Later that morning when Bad asked him if he wanted a slice of thin-crust pizza with a twinkle of desperation in his eyes, Techno would decline.

* * *

Techno had a multitude of abilities, like winning fake points on online Smash, never dying, commenting on the state of society, and apparently recognizing Skeppy’s screams from a certain radius he hadn’t figured out yet.

Two feet away was probably a good radius to start out experimenting with.

“Can you scream a little quieter?” Techno said, slamming his locker shut. “I have an English test in, like, ten minutes.”

Skeppy whirled around to him with a jar of peanut butter in hand and a thirst for blood in his eyes. “Who put this in my locker? Do you have any idea what this is? Do you?”

“Some peanut butter still encased in the jar? Costs probably a little less than five dollars at the supermarket?”

“My name is Skeppy! You know how much I hate Jif peanut butter!”

“I don’t, actually. You just got free peanut butter. What did you want, the Skippy brand?”

“Uh, yeah?” Skeppy looked around the underpopulated sea of students in the hallway. “Who sent me this? Who?”

Techno glanced around, his gaze immediately latching onto a familiar figure giggling from not too far away. “I don’t know. Probably the guy laughing at you.”

“What—” Skeppy turned his head, then his frown dissolved into a smile upon spotting Bad. He shook his head as if he were chastising an old friend and put the jar back into his locker. “God, what an idiot.” He raised his voice to shout, “Bad, I hate you!”

What an awfully fond smile for those words.

* * *

"Beating up orphans in online duo matches this Tuesday at my house," Techno said, taking his usual seat in the chemistry classroom. When did Skeppy ever show up to class before him? "You coming?"

Skeppy paused in his typing on his phone. "Who else is coming?"

"Schlatt and Tommy. Maybe A6d."

"Knowing you guys, you're gonna stay up. So assume I'm coming but I'm gonna be late."

"Not like anything's going on in your life. You actually have something to do beforehand?"

"Bad and I were gonna watch a movie together. There's this movie that looks really cringe that we both wanted to laugh at, so..."

There was something very wrong with that sentence. Namely, Skeppy and Bad actually being civil to each other and seeming like… friends? What happened?

"Why do you look so shocked?" Skeppy snorted. "I have a life outside of you, Techno."

Techno snapped back quickly. He needed to keep up his comeback streak of fifty-four. "You don't have a life at all." And that was fifty-five compared to Skeppy's lost streak of sixteen. He reigned supreme once more.

"Nice kindergarten level comeback. Next thing you're gonna do is start chanting that stupid kissing in a tree song just because Bad and I are hanging out. That’s what A6d did."

"I mean… is that what you want?"

Skeppy put his phone down, turned to Techno, and shoved him by the shoulder.

* * *

Since when was anyone happy about being paired with Skeppy in anything?

"Skeppy!" Bad called, whirling around with a smile on his face. The teams for the next tournament had been projected on the board, and it looked like Bad was the poor guy who—"We're together! Oh my goodness, we got so lucky."

Or maybe not. But "lucky guy" didn't sound right either, so Techno would go with just "guy".

Skeppy returned Bad's enthusiasm with a smile. "First place this time, right?"

"First place!"

Friendly affection? Disgusting. Techno had to turn away from that.

Definitely because he despised humans and not because his heart warmed at the thought of one of his metaphorical little brothers (who totally wasn’t Skeppy) befriending someone who truly appreciated him.

Yeah. Obviously.

* * *

“Guess who won the tourney, nerd?”

Skeppy rolled his eyes and shoved Techno, wincing when his chair squeaked against the floor of their chemistry classroom. “Ugh, that was a mistake. _You_ were a mistake. Who even calls a tournament ‘tourney’?”

“Actual pros,” Techno said. He leaned back in his chair, extending his arm to grab his Switch’s case. “Anyway, you wanna beat up some kids on online mode for some fake game points? We can play doubles as Ness. Aren’t you fond of trapping kids in combos?”

“I don’t think PK Fire counts as a combo, you muffin.” 

Muffin? What kind of insult was that?

Skeppy straightened his back, and his eyes widened. “Oh, I almost forgot. I learned this thing where if you play doubles as Ness, you can trap people in PSI Magnet if you stand close enough to each other. Let’s try that.”

“Um, you mind telling me what you just called me first?”

“Yeah, I called you…”

They shared a moment of silence staring at each other. Techno could practically see the gears turning inside Skeppy’s head and pinpointed the exact moment Skeppy realized what he had just said.

Skeppy groaned and slapped his palm against his forehead. “I think I’m hanging out with Bad too much.”

“Yeah, probably.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5k words. this one chapter is half the whole fic.

"Wow, you actually showed up to a meeting."

"Wow, you're actually winning a match for once."

Tommy rolled his eyes, and Techno chalked that up as another win for him. Not like it counted much considering it was against Tommy of all people, but it still counted nevertheless.

There was no reason Techno should’ve come to the clubroom. This would've been a perfect time to go home and take a nap, considering he had no extracurricular or shift at work today. Required attendance apparently hadn’t been a thing in the club since Bad became president either. And on top of that, the usual culprits making the most noise somehow all chose today to skip, leaving only…

Oh, great. Bad and Skeppy decided to battle each other. This should be good.

But Techno wasn’t here to babysit them. He pulled up a chair between Tommy and Wilbur and settled in to watch the rest of the match. “Wilbur, how’re you down a stock against Tommy? If you lose against him, all my respect for you will be gone.”

“Sorry, Tommy, you heard him,” Wilbur said. With that, he charged a smash attack for a split second, then released, sending Tommy’s character flying into the blast zone.

“Why is it always Bully Tommy Day?” Tommy whined. Still, he straightened his back and focused on the game.

A couple minutes later, Wilbur had emerged as the clear victor and exchanged a handshake with Tommy. And now, they were talking criticism like the nerds they were.

“You tend to use the same moves over and over when you’re going in,” Wilbur said. “Like there, when you just go in on me with the same tilt you’ve been using all game. That’s unbelievably easy to predict.”

“Wow, okay. I see how it is.”

Wilbur opened his mouth to respond, then shut it upon the screen of the people in front of them. “Are you guys seeing what I’m seeing?”

Techno followed his gaze.

“You can't just leave me like that," Skeppy whined, clinging to Bad's arm. "No one else here wants to play with me."

Bad scoffed and tried pulling his arm away, but had little success. "I think you just mean no one else wants to be trolled by you, because that's all you've been doing this whole time. You're a decently popular person, Skeppy. You can find someone else to play with pretty easily."

"I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to play with anyone else, I wanna play with  _ you." _

"What do you mean by that?"

Skeppy gave no response, only tilting his head to give him puppy eyes.

A smile cracked at Bad's lips. He looked away. "You're not gonna tug on my heartstrings to get what you want, okay? I'm not having it."

"Pleeease?"

There was a moment of silence before Bad sighed and turned back to the Switch on the table. "Ugh, fine. But no trolling this time, okay?"

Skeppy released his hold on Bad and snickered. "No guarantees."

"Skeppy."

"Fine, fine, no trolling."

The two began another match, unaware of the three silent figures watching.

"That was… quite possibly the most awkward thing I've had to sit through," Wilbur said, finally looking away.

Techno could say the same, but he was more than eager to change the conversation topic. "Surely you've sat through much worse. Remember last year in history when you and Schlatt tried to give a presentation on—"

"Shut up, shut up, you promised not to bring that up!"

Tommy's eyes glittered, and he leaned in. "Oh, do tell more, please."

"You be quiet!"

Techno only smiled and opened his mouth to speak.

* * *

"Bad's eyes are green," Skeppy told Techno while they walked in the halls after that club meeting.

Tommy had been picked up by his parents right after Techno had finished telling the story. Wilbur, like a true friend, mocked Techno for only having one other friend in the clubroom at the time and decided to make that zero by leaving for his shift at work. Even Bad had stayed behind with Callahan for… paperwork? Networking with other clubs? Talking strategy for world domination? Techno had no idea what officer duties entailed.

And all of them left him to deal with this uncomfortable situation. Thanks, everyone.

"Like, really green," Skeppy continued. "Super green."

Well, what was a socially awkward person to say to that?

"They sure are, man," Techno said.

They left it at that.

* * *

"Did you hear?" Finn said, "Apparently Zelk tried pulling a prank on Bad, but Skeppy kept messing it up."

"If this is an attempt to distract me with conversation, it's not gonna work."

Finn muttered a curse when Techno knocked his character offstage and slammed his controller down upon realizing he had no stocks left against Techno's two. That was the end of the match and probably Finn's willingness to play against him. "Okay, can you blame me? You're too good at this stupid game." He sighed and flopped back into his chair. "Not joking about the Zelk thing, though. Skeppy completely screwed with that."

Techno shrugged. "That's not really a surprise. He's chaotic as hell."

"No, I mean, Zelk already had everything set up and just needed to talk to Bad to get it to work. He even told Skeppy about it ahead of time, but apparently Skeppy just forgot about all that and kept talking to Bad like an idiot. And you know Bad, he's not gonna say no if someone wants to keep talking to him."

Huh.

Now  _ that _ changed things.

Contrary to popular belief and Skeppy's own actions, Skeppy wasn't stupid. Sure, he wasn't top-of-the-class level smart, but he didn't need to be when he could already read people like a book. If Techno tried to think of playing a prank on him, he would probably catch on almost immediately and weasel his plan out of him in under an hour. That deserved a fair amount of respect from him.

There was no way Skeppy wasn't intentionally being a little shit. He had a good track record when it came to remembering pranks.

But it was weird. If it were anyone else, Skeppy would've been onboard without a second thought. Techno had personally watched him and A6d gang up on a couple of their other friends, as well as him asking Dream to help him set up a couple of pranks last year. There was that one prank war Skeppy had teamed up with Zelk for not too long ago.

So why now? Bad was Skeppy's favorite victim, after all. Surely he wouldn't mind sharing some of the glory that—

Ah.

He didn't want to share. What a child.

Oh, well. It’s not like he and Techno were the type of friends to talk about their feelings or whatever, much less through Finn while they were sitting in their English class.

“Are you gonna play again or not?” Techno asked.

Finn sighed and picked up his controller. “Yeah, sure.”

* * *

"That's the third muffin you've brought into class this week," Techno said.

Skeppy only shrugged and tossed his backpack on the floor before sitting in his seat. "Not my fault. Bad keeps accidentally making extra and giving them to me during lunch."

Techno frowned. "I thought you sat with Spifey and A6d."

"I do."

"Then who does Bad sit with?"

"Dream, George, and Sapnap, mostly."

"Then… why didn't he just give one of them the muffin?"

Skeppy opened his mouth to answer, then closed it, furrowing his eyebrows. Techno could practically see the numbers and formulas flying around his head as he thought.

Skeppy thinking. What a momentous occasion.

* * *

Outside the Munchy Club, Techno knew exactly what his reputation was: the smart, quiet kid who seemed just a bit arrogant. People left him alone, and he left them alone. It was a mutual agreement between him and his classmates that was signed on day one of them stepping into the same room together.

Which was probably why he had no clue what to do when Dream cornered him in the cafeteria asking if he could answer a question.

"Hey," Dream said, acting as if they had had a full-length conversation before and Techno wasn't an awkward nerd outside of gaming. "You mind answering a question for me?"

"Uh, no?"

"Do you think Skeppy and Bad like each other?"

Well, that wasn't what he expected to hear.

Techno shrugged. "I don't know, Skeppy and I don't really talk about that sort of thing." He paused. "Wait, this isn't your lunch period. What're you doing here?"

"Skipping class, don't worry about it. Is that a yes or no?"

"... No?"

"Alright, thanks." Dream glanced down to something on his phone. "I'm making a poll with George to prove a point to… someone. Three people on the yes side, you on the no. Do you want final results when we get it in?"

Eh, what did he have to lose?

Techno shrugged and nodded.

"Okay, I'll text you later tonight. See you." With that, Dream weaved into the crowd and disappeared without a trace.

Huh. That wasn't the direction he thought his day was headed.

"Techno, what're you doing just standing there like an idiot?"

Ah, that was more familiar.

Techno began walking, knowing the speaker was right at his feet. "Hey, Tommy. Today's been a weird day."

"Weird? How?" Tommy asked, setting his lunchtray on the table. He plopped down on a seat, then scrunched his nose upon seeing Wilbur against him. "Ugh, it's you."

"Ugh, it's me," Wilbur laughed. "What's up, you two?"

Techno cleared his throat and deepened his voice to seem as ominous as possible. "Gentlemen. I need to ask you both a question.”

Tommy and Wilbur, used to his bullshit, looked at him with neutral expressions.

“Do you think Bad and Skeppy like each other?”

Tommy gasped, and his face paled. Techno had never seen him more mortified. “Wait, they aren’t dating?”

Wilbur burst out laughing first, then Techno following with snickers that bubbled into full-blown laughter.

“No, you don’t understand,” Tommy said, “I’ve said so many jokes to Bad about him and Skeppy dating. Right to his face! Oh my god, what've I done?”

“Tommy, no!” Wilbur managed to say through his fit of laughter.

“You thought so, too, right? Please tell me I’m not the only one.”

“Probably not the only one, but I don't see how you can jump to that conclusion so surely."

"It's reasonable! We literally watched Skeppy call him cute and he just didn’t care! That has to mean it’s a normal interaction between them." Tommy's mouth moved to form more words, but nothing came out. He turned to Techno. "Come on, Techno, back me up here. You're the one who asked."

Techno shrugged and struggled to bite back a grin. "It was Dream who asked me, actually. I just wanted to see where the general consensus was at."

Because really, was there any true, concrete evidence Bad and Skeppy liked each other romantically? Sure, it wasn't impossible, but it wasn't as obvious as Tommy was implying. Techno didn't know Bad well enough to extrapolate any information about him, and Skeppy had always said questionable things to his friends (including that solid month a couple years ago he started calling Finn "babe" often enough for Finn to start responding to that name. They don't talk about that).

But thinking back on it (as Tommy and Wilbur entered another scuffle and both threatened to call Phil on the other), Skeppy may have personally told Techno and his other friends some weird things, but he couldn’t ever recall Skeppy commenting on someone’s eye color of all things. And after the conversation he went quiet…

No. he was overthinking it.

“Phil!” Wilbur and Tommy cheered.

Techno turned, only to see they had indeed ended up video-calling Phil and Phil had somehow been awake. He moved so his head poked into frame and waved, hiding his smile behind Tommy’s head.

The subject was left forgotten, and they moved onto another.

* * *

"Hey, Techno, Wilbur," Bad called in the hallway. "Can I ask you two a really weird question?"

It was six-thirty in the morning. Might as well.

The two shrugged.

"Dream… Dream didn't ask you to answer some poll about me and Skeppy, did he? Or George? One of the two."

Oh, shit.

Was Bad the person Dream wanted to prove a point to…? Did Dream seriously make a poll about this solely to show to Bad?

Wow. Dream had guts, he would give that to him.

Techno glanced back at Wilbur, only to see him barely suppressing a smirk. So he remembered, too.

"No, he hasn't," Wilbur answered.

"Me neither," Techno said.

"Oh, okay. Thank you!" With that, Bad turned away and walked down the hall, disappearing into the mass of students.

Techno waited until he was completely certain Bad wouldn't hear him before bursting out into laughter, Wilbur's laughter blending in with his own.

"Did that just happen?" Wilbur said through his laughter.

“I think it did” was Techno’s answer before they burst into another round of laughter.

* * *

_ Murder is cringe, Techno, _ Techno thought to himself as he and Skeppy watched the liquid inside the titration set-up turn bright purple for the third time.  _ All types of murder, even justified, are cringe. _

“Oh my god, how is this supposed to be pink?” Skeppy groaned, rubbing his face with his hands. “Dude, today’s a Munchy meeting. Bad’s gonna kill me if I don’t get there in the next couple minutes.”

"Bad's gonna kill you?  _ I'm _ gonna kill you with this flask if you keep messing up the titration—"

"Hey, it's not all my fault! You could've leaned over and stopped it from titrating at any time."

"I didn't think you were stupid enough to forget about the literal  _ spinning rock _ in the flask."

"Yeah, your fault."

Techno sighed. "Okay, I'm just gonna make a deal with you. How about you do the titration and I answer the analysis questions? That way, we don't have to talk to each other."

"Deal."

Techno hadn't expected Skeppy to agree so easily, but he wasn't about to complain about that, especially now that the lab equipment was starting to chafe against his skin. He snapped his gloves off and tossed them in a nearby trash can. Next off were the giant lab goggles around his head. He set them on the table, rubbing where they left red marks on his skin. Ugh. Taking off the apron would be too much effort, so he sat down and started writing on the shared worksheet (and put his name first before Skeppy's while he was at it. Take that, nerd).

The two worked quietly, Skeppy cleaning up the failure their last experiment was and Techno forgetting what molarity was for a solid five seconds. The air conditioner whirred in the background. The room could never be truly silent.

But… those footsteps were odd.

"Hey," Techno said, looking up from his worksheet. "You hear that?"

Skeppy shrugged. "Teacher probably needed something. Have you seen the things people in Science Olympiad come up with?"

"No, those footsteps sound angry."

"How do footsteps sound angry?"

"Skeppy!" came a familiar voice from the hall.

"Oh, that’s how," was the only sentence Skeppy could say before Bad burst into the room, panting and glaring. "What's up?"

"You!" Bad called, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "You promised me you would help me run drills with the club today. And now you're in Science Olympiad's clubroom? You never even told me you were in this club!"

Skeppy and Techno exchanged a glance, both visibly confused.

This was not Science Olympiad's clubroom. That was down in the mechanics lab, where students would have more access to tools and resources. Their teacher was a sponsor for the club, but nowhere did it say that specific club was here, nor were there any other students around to suggest there was any sort of club event taking place at all. What was Bad thinking, if at all?

Skeppy was the first to turn back to Bad. "Bad, this isn't the Science Olympiad clubroom. Techno and I just missed a lab."

Bad blinked, his disposition considerably less angry. How had he calmed down so quickly? "Wait, you did? How? I'm pretty sure you were at school every day."

Skeppy laughed nervously and kicked Techno's shin underneath the table, careful not to show movement from the waist-up. Techno kicked him back.

Of course Skeppy had chosen the one day Techno was sick to skip class.  _ Of course. _ Even after Techno had been kind enough to shoot him a text telling him he'd be out.

_ Murder is cringe. _ Techno put a bit more emphasis on that reminder.

"Don't worry about it" was apparently the best Skeppy could come up with before he hastily changed the subject. "Anyway, I didn't mean to miss the meeting. We just needed to do something for school and we're kind of struggling."

"Shouldn't your teacher be here to help you?"

"Yeah, but she's at the Science Olympiad meeting."

"She just left you here? By yourselves?"

Skeppy sighed. "Apparently Techno's a—" he lifted two fingers in the air to form air quotes—"'good, trustworthy student.'"

"You say that like I'm not," Techno mused, his lips quirked up into a smile.

"You literally burnt an entire bag of chips for our thermodynamics unit. We were supposed to use one. And she still somehow likes you."

"Dude, those carbs got destroyed."

Skeppy shook his head. "If you'll ignore the idiot over there—"

"Which is you, by the way."

"—we need to do a titration lab, but we're both really,  _ really _ bad at it."

Bad furrowed his eyebrows. "Skeppy, titration isn't that hard. You just need to pay attention to it."

Ah. What a thing to say to two people who couldn't pay attention to one thing for more than two seconds.

"Do you need help?" Bad asked.

Skeppy’s eyes glazed over as he stared at the set of glassware on the table. "... Yeah, probably."

And thus began the most aggressively awkward third-wheeling Techno had ever done in his life, wherein Techno sat aside while Skeppy teased Bad for putting on lab equipment. Though to be fair, Bad did look like as much of a nerd as Techno did sitting in the corner doing math problems wearing a crappy plastic apron.

"Oh my god, the goggles are too big on you," Skeppy said through his laughter as Bad fumbled with his goggles. "That's actually too cute. Here, let me fix it."

And another comment about Bad being cute was once again ignored as if that was a normal interaction between the two.

God, he needed to focus on math. Math! Molarity! Formulas!

Doing basic conversion algebra was horribly dull compared to Bad and Skeppy's interactions. Dream and Tommy would pay dearly for bringing them to his attention.

Bad had muttered a thank you somewhere between the time it took for Techno to find the molar mass on the periodic table and for him to convert that number into moles. Once he tied the ropes of the apron behind his back, the true agony began.

This was probably the longest the two had gone without their conversation devolving into some sort of argument. Their voices were soft, gentle, caring. Techno could gather that much even as he intently stared at the worksheet in front of him.

“And… now!” Bad said. “Stop it now, Skeppy!”

There was a click of a button, then cheers from both of them.

“Oh my god, that took forever,” Skeppy said, the smile visible in his voice.

Techno finally ripped his stare away from the worksheet and to the sight next to him.

The atmosphere protecting them from the outside world was impenetrable. Adoring smiles—one proud and the other relieved—graced their lips. They stood still, as if any movement would break the magic surrounding them, and they only saw each other.

That look in their eyes—that soft, vulnerable look they trusted only each other with—Techno recognized that. He had seen it when Wilbur saw Nihachu walking by in the halls or when Phil talked about his girlfriend, who he insisted would become his wife someday.

That was love. True, unfiltered love.

“You did it,” Bad said quietly.

Skeppy’s voice was almost a whisper, and his smile only grew warmer. “Yeah. I did.”

The titrated solution glistened a glowing pink.

* * *

Apparently Techno had been late to the party.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure the entire Munchy Club’s in on it,” Hanna said, twirling a strand of hair around her pencil absentmindedly. She wrinkled her nose when a stray eraser bit got caught in her hair and brushed it out. “I thought you were smart, Techno.”

“I am, I’m just emotionally stunted,” Techno said. “You forget that a lot.”

Hanna laughed, then ducked away when the teacher glanced over at them. “Why do you always say these things when we’re supposed to be working?”

“Get destroyed, Hanna.”

* * *

Okay. Everyone was definitely in on this.

Skeppy’s shout, even with half the club talking, somehow managed to beat out all of the other voices by force. “Listen up, idiots! Sign up for the tournament or die tomorrow.”

“I thought Dream was supposed to run the club when Bad wasn’t here,” Zelk said. “Besides, Callahan’s here, too. Hasn’t he been officer longer than you?”

All eyes turned to Callahan, who only shrugged. They turned back to Skeppy.

“I mean, Bad just told me to take over for him today in the officer group chat,” Skeppy said.

A6d scoffed. “Since when have you ever taken something like this seriously?”

“I’d appreciate if you’d stop calling me out anytime soon.”

“No, he’s right,” Mega said. “Are you simping?”

Any useful discussion came to a halt, and Skeppy slammed the slideshow remote controller on the table. He pointed and glared at Mega. “That’s the first time you’ve spoken in four months, and  _ that’s _ what you say? You’re so stupid, I hate you.”

Laughter bubbled throughout the room, including from Techno but only a smug smile from Mega.

“Oh, and now you’re not talking. Congrats, you just used up your quota for the rest of the semester. Are you happy with yourself now? All of you, just fill out the—Put that simp sign down, Tapl! We made that as a joke!”

Techno snapped his head in the direction Skeppy had been looking, only to see Tapl holding up a hastily-written “SIMP!” in black marker on a sheet of notebook paper.

“Ugh, I hate you all,” Skeppy said. He flipped over to the next slide, which had a QR code displayed. “Just fill out the stupid survey.”

Techno unlocked his phone and pointed the camera up at the QR code.

Everyone really was in on this.

* * *

“Attention, everyone,” Bad shouted over the crowd of people speaking. “Can I have your attention for a moment?”

Despite how chaotic the Munchy Club was when everyone was actually in attendance, the noise level in the room slowly dwindled to silence. Everyone had paused their games and turned to face the front of the room, where Bad sat on the table with… Skeppy sleeping on his shoulder.

Judging by the looks on other people’s faces, Techno wasn’t the only one absolutely not surprised by this development.

Bad had his arm slung over Skeppy’s shoulders, but nothing on his expression suggested this was outside the norm. “Can we please keep our voices to a whisper for the rest of the meeting? Skeppy didn’t get much sleep last night, so I just want to make sure he catches up on a little bit of it right now.”

Oh. This little shit, pretending like it wasn’t his own fault.

Had Bad not seen Skeppy’s Snapchat story documenting his spiral down the Minecraft speedrun rabbit hole? Did he not see Dream’s counter-posting jokingly mocking him? Techno, after much prodding, would admit he loved his friends, but he certainly didn’t love the stupid shit they did.

Well, sometimes. Other times, they were hilarious.

“Bad, you literally screamed right next to him and he didn’t move,” Dream said. “I think it’ll be okay if we talk a little bit.”

“I just want to be sure.”

“Just sounds like you’re simping for him, to be honest,” added Sapnap with a shrug.

“I am.”

The room burst into a mix of cackles and hysterical laughter. Techno liked to think he was more on the snide snickering side of the spectrum.

Bad frowned at that. “What? What’s wrong with simping for Skeppy?”

“Bad, I don’t think you know what that word means,” Dream said in between his cackles.

“I know exactly what it means.”

“No, the connotation it carries—”

“Simp!” Techno shouted, cupping his hands into a shitty megaphone and fighting back laughter. God, watching such oblivious people was ridiculous. And Bad was supposed to be older than him? “Skeppy simp!”

Bad’s face heated up, and he glared. “I’m not—I mean, I guess I am, but you don’t have to make fun of me for it!”

"Hm?" Skeppy mumbled, his eyes slowly fluttering open. "Bad?"

All noise and movement in the clubroom stopped.

Bad turned his head to gaze at Skeppy with the most adoring eyes, and his voice fell to a soft whisper. "Go back to sleep, Skeppy."

"But—"

"Hush. Go sleep. I'll look over you."

"Promise?"

"Always."

Skeppy mumbled something else under his breath, wrapping his arms around Bad's waist and snuggling closer. His breathing evened out almost immediately.

Skeppy had always been the physically affectionate type with his friends, as far as Techno knew. Judging by how red Bad's face was, Bad wasn't.

Oh, well. Time to start the simp train again.

"Simp!" Techno called, and the rest of the club followed.

* * *

"Hey," Techno called out. "Can I ask you to do something?"

There was only him and Bad left in the clubroom, Techno about to walk out and Bad typing something into a spreadsheet. Everyone else had left a few minutes ago, and Techno took that time to properly gather what he wanted to say.

And calm himself down. Speaking to an acquaintance alone was probably high up on the list of stuff he hated doing.

Bad looked up and offered him an expectant smile. "What can I help you with?"

It wasn't hard to tell what Skeppy saw in him. Even though he and Bad had never spoken for more than two minutes, he still regarded Techno like he would a close friend. He was kind, forgiving, warm, someone who would never intentionally cause harm to someone else. Out of all the people in the club, he had the biggest heart of them all. It was easy to guess why Skeppy gravitated so much towards him.

But still…

Techno had been carrying Skeppy in their classes for years. Long and painful years, but years nonetheless. Even if he was closer to other people than he was to Skeppy, Skeppy was still like his little brother.

"Don't hurt Skeppy," Techno said quietly. "He's been through a lot."

Confusion flashed across Bad's face, then understanding. "I won't," he answered. "I'll be sure of it."

The resolution and absoluteness of his voice. Techno believed him, and that’s all he needed.

With that, Techno said his goodbyes and left the room.

* * *

“I can’t say I’m surprised at this turn of events,” Wilbur said as soon as the screen displayed partnerships for the next tournament.

Techno smiled upon seeing his name next to Wilbur’s, then underneath them, Bad paired with Skeppy. His gaze moved to Bad marveling at how they were paired together again and Skeppy pretending he wanted another partner, acting as if he hadn’t complained the entire class period yesterday about maybe not being paired with him again. “Yeah. I don’t think anyone was.”

* * *

The scoring of the final tournament of the year wasn’t supposed to come up so quickly. Time wasn’t real.

The Munchy Club members waited, staring at the scoreboard projected in front of a giant room full of people. Techno sat between Wilbur and Tommy, all three sharing a bag of chips while Tommy rambled about his last match against Dream and Sapnap (who sat a little ways behind them with George). Ahead of them, Bad and Skeppy sat together.

"I saw Phil though!" Tommy said. "He was one of the college volunteers looking over the match."

"He saw you get wrecked?" Wilbur snickered.

"No,  _ I _ wrecked  _ them. _ For, like, only the first stock, but that's besides the point."

Techno opened his mouth to respond, but the scoreboard lit up before he could.

Everyone fell silent. Eyes scoured the scoreboard, Techno looking for three names in particular

"Heyyy, fourth place!" Wilbur cheered, a wide grin on his face. He held his hand up for a high-five.

Techno took it and smiled. "Fourth place isn't bad. First place next year, Wilbur?"

"Absolutely."

"Twelfth place? That's poggers!" Tommy shot up out of his chair with newfound energy. "Hold on, I gotta find Deo. Hey, Deo!" With that, he weaved into the crowd in search for his teammate.

Actually… who did win? Techno had been so focused on finding his, Wilbur’s, and Tommy's rank he almost forgot to check.

Techno looked back up at the scoreboard.

Bad and Skeppy.

"Yes!" Bad shouted, nearby people wincing at the sheer volume of his voice. "I love you, Skeppy, we won! We won! Two times second place, and a victory! Oh my gosh, Skeppy!" He turned and grabbed Skeppy by the shoulders.

Skeppy stood frozen, in awe. He stared at Bad as he continued rambling about their victory.

"Skeppy! I'm so happy, I could kiss you right now. Oh my gosh, I can't—"

Skeppy's hand shot out, cupped Bad's cheek, and pulled him into a kiss.

Aaaand now they were making in front of hundreds of people. Gross.

Techno turned away, but a smile snuck its way onto his lips.

_ Fucking finally. _

* * *

Skeppy trying too hard to walk into class casually and unassumingly the next day as if he wasn’t just holding hands with Bad was probably one of the funniest things Techno's seen in a while.

"So," Techno said, eyeing how red Skeppy's cheeks were and how his lips twitched from him trying to bite back a smile, "you happy?"

Then Skeppy allowed the happiest, most adoring grin to dance on his lips. He looked down at his hand with hearts in his eyes. "Yeah, I am."

The happiest. His friend was so happy.

Techno turned away to hide his own smile. “Good.”


End file.
